Liquid-fuel feed.



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R. M. HVID.

LIQUID FUEL FEED. APPLICATION FILED mac. 3. 1911.

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Patented Get. 29, 1918.

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BASIVIUS M. HVID, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO B. M. HVID COMPANY, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

LIQUID-FUEL FEED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29, 1918.

Application filed December 8, 1917. Serial No. 205,133.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RAsMUs M. Hvio, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid-Fuel Feeds, of which, the following is a specification.

My invention relates to internal combustion engines and particularly to fuel feeding means for engines of the type in which liquidfuel is fed in an uncarbureted condition directly to the cylinder.

In engines ofthe I-Ivid type, that is, in which ignition is effected by the heat of compression and the charge is inhaled during the suction cycle, the fuel is supplied to the cylinder in liquid form, no means for carburation being employed. A valve is used for controlling the admission of the liquid fuel and as the amount of fuel required for each charge is minute, the valve and the entrance opening for the fuel are necessarily quite small. Furthermore, in view of the high compression employed the valve must seat with great accuracy. Therefore thesmallest particle of solid matter which may lodge between the valve and its seat, serves to permit the escape of pressure from the compression space, which is exerted in the liquid fuel supply pipe. The high ressure developed will eject the fuel in t e pipe, and in the constructions heretofore employed the engine was stopped; this for the reason that the fuel was supplied by means of a single pipe extending from the container to a manifold which served the plurality of cylinders. It is not entirely practical to employ a check-valve in the line, for the reason that the foreign matter can'best be dislodged by permitting the pressure to blow past the seat.

I have therefore devised a system of fuel supply so arranged that the main oil container, which may be of large capacity, is located at a convenient point, say at the base of the engine, and an auxiliary container of small capacity is located at a convenient point above the cylinders. A pump for delivering oil from the main to the auxiliary container, combined with an overflow pipe for maintaining a constant level in the auxiliary tank, serves to provide for the supply. In order to avoid the objections heretofore referred to, 1. provide a separate conduit from the auxillary containerto each of the cylinders. As the auxiliary container is in communication with the atmosphere, if any of the needle valves or fuel intake valves become clogged by foreign matter, the compressed air and fluid in that cylinder will blow through the fuel feeding opening and the independent supply pipe, thence out through the vent in the auxiliary container. This will serve to clear the passage but will not affect in any manner the operation of the remaining cylinders. This would not be possible if the fuel were supplied through a manifold.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly diagrammatic in form, showing the application of my improvement to a four-cylinder engine, and,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the feed valve which I employ.

In the drawings the engine cylinders are indicatel at 10, four being shown. The engine may be of the type shown in the earlier patents to Brons, Nos. 868,839 and 922,383, while the valve construction, later to be described, may conform to that shown in the patent to Blakely, No. 1,245,312. It will be understood that in an engine of this type ignition is effected by the heat of compression and the fuel in liquid form is inhaled on the suction stroke. By means of the system illustrated I am enabled to store the bulk of the fuel in a tank 11, an automatic pump 12, serving to elevate the fuel and discharge it into an auxiliary tank or container 13, which may be conveniently located at a point adjacent to and above the cylinders. An overflow pipe 14, serves to maintain a constant level in the auxiliary container. In order to avoid the objections heretofore referred to, I provide independent conduits 15, 16 17 18, from the auxiliary container to each of the cylinders. These conduitsare provided with manually controlled valves 19, which are employed only for shutting off the supply when the engine is not in operation. When in operating condition the conduitsare open and in communication with a needle valve 20, which 22, is open the required amount of fuel, together with a small quantity of air, are drawn into the explosion cup 23. The needle valve can be threaded and provided with a lateral arm 24, adapted to be connected to the governor, not shown.

Assuming that a particle of foreign matter becomes lodged between the face of the valve 22, and its seat, it will be seen that the compression developed in the respective cylinder will escape through the intake port 21, past the needle valve and into the. conduit 15: The fuel in the conduit will be blown out and the pressure will escape through the vent 25, in the auxiliary tank. There will be no material increase in the pressure within the tank which would have the effect of forcing an' excess of fuel through the remaining valves. Neither will the discharge of fuel from the conduit 15, have any effect on the operation of the engine as to the remaining cylinders. If the foreign matter is not blown out at once, the engine will slow down due to the, interruption of the one cylinder, whereupon the governor will act to open the needle valves, thus giving a larger escape opening for the pressure in the dead cylinder. This will assist in blowing out the foreign matter. If, however, the interruption continues, the oflending valve may be removed and cleaned even without shutting down the engine, if desired. This is all made possible because of the conduit arrangement.

While I have shown the improvement as applied to a four cylinder engine, it will, of course, be understood that this constitutes no limitation. The improvement may be applied with equal facility to any multi-cylinder engine.

I claim:

1. In a multi-cylinder, hydro-carbon engine, of the type in which liquid fuel is fed directly to the cylinders, the combination with the cylinders, of aliquid fuel tank and .an independent conduit from the tank to each cylinder, substantially as described.

2. In a multi-cylinder engine of the type in which uncarbureted fuel is inhaled directly into the cylinders, the combination with the cylinders, of a liquid fuel tank having communication with the atmosphere, and an independent conduit communicating directly between the tank and each cylinder, substantially as described.

3. In a multi-cylinder engine of the type in which liquid fuel is fed directly to the cylinders, the combination with the cylin ders of a liquid fuel intake valve in each cylinder, a liquid fuel supply tank, and an independent conduit extending from said tank to each of said cylinders, the flow of fuel through said conduits being controlled by said intake valves, substantially as described.

4. A multi-cylinder engine of a type in which liquid fuel is fed directly to the cylinders, the combination with the cylinders and pistons, of an intake valve for each cylinder for controlling the entrance of liquid fuel, said valve being opened at thebegin ning of and during the suction stroke of the piston andremaining closed until the next succeeding suction stroke, a liquid fuel supply tank, and a separate conduit extending from said supply tank to each of said cylinders and controlled by one of said intake valves, substantially as described.

5. A fuel supply system for a multi-cylinder engine of the type in which liquid fuel is fed directly to the cylinders, the combination of cylinders, a main fuel supply tank, an auxiliary fuel supply tank, means for maintaining a constant level 'of fuel in said auxiliary tank, an intake valve in each cylin der for controlling the entrance of liquid fuel, said intake valve being adapted to be opened at the beginning of the suction stroke of the engine, and a separate pipe extending from said supply tank to each cylinder and controlled by one of said intake valves, substantially as described.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 30th day of November, 1917 RASMUS M. HVID.

Witness T. D. BUTLER. 

